One of the horror genre's "most widely read critics" (Rue Morgue # 68), "an accomplished film journalist" (Comic Buyer's Guide #1535), and the award-winning author of Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002), John Kenneth Muir, presents his blog on film, television and nostalgia, named one of the Top 100 Film Studies Blog on the Net.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

The
next Saturday morning live-action series I will cover here on the blog is Sid
and Marty Krofft’s ElectraWoman and DynaGirl (1976).

The
series ran on ABC in the year 1976 as part of the omnibus program The
Krofft Supershow. Like Secrets of Isis(from Filmation), ElectraWoman and DynaGirl is a
female driven superhero program.

Unlike,
Isis
(a series which adopts the format, essentially, of the 1950s Adventures
of Superman), it is clear that the inspiration for the Sid and Marty
Krofft series is the 1960s Adam West Batman (1966 – 1968).

They are also, secretly, ElectraWoman and
DynaGirl. These colorfully-dressed
superheroes operate from the Electra-Base, an installation deep under the suburban
house they share. They reach the base by
elevator, and from surface to Electra-Base done their costumes via the wonder
of instantaneous “Electra Change.”

He
watches their highly-advanced Crime Scope computer for signs of criminal
activities, and is constantly updating their most valuable piece of equipment
with new applications. This equipment is
the wrist-watch like device called an “Electra-Comp.”

In
various episodes, the Electra-Comps are up-fitted with “Electra Vibe”
applications, which can shatter matter, and the “Electra Split” function, an
unstable “decoy” weapon that can double or duplicate non-living matter. The two superheroes can also fly using their
Electra-Comps, thanks to the function “Electra De-Gravitate” (seen in the
segment “The Empress of Evil.”)

In
terms of aping Batman, ElectraWoman
and DynaGirl also possess a signature vehicle, the Electra-Car, which can also transform
into the Electra-Plane.

And
DynaGirl, like the Boy Wonder, is given to enthusiastic exhortations. Instead
of prefacing those exhortations with the word “Holy,” however, she uses the
word “Electra.” In other words, she says things like “Electra Wild!” or “Electra-Fantastic”
or Electra Wow!”

Similarly,
ElectraWoman and DynaGirl features a sort of spinning wheel scene
transition, much like the spinning bat-wheel transition on the West series.

Unlike
Batman and Robin, however, ElectraWoman and DynaGirl don’t even wear masks when
changing from civilian to superhero gear, making it difficult to understand how
people don’t recognize them. On the
other hand, Lori and Judy aren’t the city’s most prominent citizen, like Bruce
Wayne, either. Instead, they are
journalists in the immediate Post-Watergate Scandal age, digging deep into
their stories, but not drawing attention to themselves as “hero journalists.”

Despite
the fact that ElectraWoman and DynaGirl lased for just sixteen fifteen minute
segments (comprising eight episodes in all), the series has nonetheless become
a lasting part of the pop culture firmament.
A pilot was made for a follow-up series in 2001, and in 2016, we can
expect a web-series re-boot starring Grace Hellbig and Hannah Hart. It will be interesting to see how the
property is updated, and what tone it strikes.

The
villains of the series are mostly bizarre, costumed freaks, who always have one
and only one sidekick. Some of these
villains include the Sorcerer (Michael Constantine) with sidekick Miss Dazzle
(Susan Lanier), Glitter Rock (John Mark Robison) with minion “Side-Man, Ali Bab
(Malachi Throne), The Pharaoh (Peter Mark Richman), the Spider Lade (Tiffany
Bolling) and The Emress of Evil (Claudette Nevins).

I’ll
be reviewing each episode of ElectraWoman and DynaGirl here for
the next eight weeks. Instead of breaking the segments up into part I/part II
-- cliffhanger/cliffhanger resolved -- pieces (another way that the series apes
Batman’s storytelling structure), I’ll
be treating each 25 minute story as an entire episode.

About John

award-winning author of 27 books including Horror Films FAQ (2013), Horror Films of the 1990s (2011), Horror Films of the 1980s (2007), TV Year (2007), The Rock and Roll Film Encyclopedia (2007), Mercy in Her Eyes: The Films of Mira Nair (2006),, Best in Show: The Films of Christopher Guest and Company (2004), The Unseen Force: The Films of Sam Raimi (2004), An Askew View: The Films of Kevin Smith (2002), The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film & Television (2004), Exploring Space:1999 (1997), An Analytical Guide to TV's Battlestar Galactica (1998), Terror Television (2001), Space:1999 - The Forsaken (2003) and Horror Films of the 1970s (2002).

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"Hands down, John Kenneth Muir is one of the finest critics and writers working today. His deep analysis of contemporary American culture is always illuminating and insightful. John's film writing and criticism is outstanding and a great place to start for any budding writer, but one should also examine his work on comic books, TV, and music. His weighty catalog of books and essays combined with his significant blog production places him at the top of pop culture writers. Johns work is essential in understanding the centrality of culture in modern society." - Professor Bob Batchelor, cultural historian and Executive Director of the James Pedas Communication Center at Thiel College (2014).

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